Buffing composition



United States Patent'O BUFFING COMPOSITION Harvey E. Larsen, Steger,Ill., assignor to Steger Products Manufacturing Corporation, Steger,11]., a corporation of Illinois No Drawing. Application January 28,1952, Serial No. 268,692

4 Claims. (Cl. 51-304) This invention relates to an improved buflingprocess and composition therefor and, more particularly, to an improvedprocess for machine-operated cloth-buffing of suitably pro-treatedwoodwork or furniture to impart thereto a lustrous finish, and to animproved buffing composition for use in such process.

In the preparation of woodwork or furniture such as television cabinets,for example, the cabinet is fabricated of suitable wood and is usuallythen treated by the application of a lacquer coating or finish. Thesurface is usually also Wet-sanded to remove roughness andirregularities of a coarse nature. Then, the surface is buffed to impartthereto the desired lustre.

Heretofore, it has been necessary generally to carry out the buflingoperation byhand, because machine buffing resulted almost invariably inburning the finish and even the wood, by reasons of the harsh action ofthe machine. Machine buffing, usually by means of a rotary rubbingmotion of a suitably supported buffing cloth urging an abrasive rubbingcompound against the surface to be buffed,.is relatively inflexible tothe extent that the machine cannot sense overheating at thebuffingsurface. Accordingly, such cabinet bufling operations as were necessarywere carried out by hand, using the usual pumice rubbing compoundsordinarily employed for such purposes.

In essence, the buffing operation involves fine smoothing, by moderateabrasive action, so as to obtain a sufficiently smooth finish surface toimpart thereto a lustrous appearance. Manual buffing, of course, istedious and time consuming. But, as just mentioned, it was heretoforenot possible to exploit the advantages of speed, uniformity and facilityof operation afforded by machine buffing, because overheating or burninginvariably resulted using those available bufiing or rubbing compoundswhich were suitably active abrasives for practical operation.

The instant invention relates to a machine bufiing loperation wherein asuitably compounded rubbing composition improves the general inflexiblecharacter of machine bufiing by cooperating with the bufling cloth atthe bufiing surface to cool, lubricate or otherwise dissipatefriction-created heat to permit suitably swift and efiective abrasiveaction without burning. Also, the instant invention relates to a buffingcomposition uniquely adapted to carry out such functions during machinebuffing.

It is therefore an important object of the instant invention to providean improved butting process and rubbing compound therefor.

It is a further object of the instant invention to provide an improvedmachine buffing operation, and buffing composition therefor, which maybe employed in the buffing of suitably pre-treated or finished woodworkto obtain a brilliant lustre without danger of burning the buffedsurface.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide an improvedmachine bufl'ing process, and buffing composition therefor, which may beemployed for the purpose of very rapidly imparting a lustre tolacquer-finished wood surfaces without damaging, for example byoverheating, either the lacquer finish or the wood surface.

It is still another object of the instant invention to provide animproved machine buffing process, and buffing composition therefor,whereby rapid but uniquely-cooled abrasive, lustre-imparting action isobtained by the use of a machine operated buffing cloth in conjunctionwith a suitable abrasive, such as tripoli, in an oil-in-soap solutionemulsion, wherein the weight ratio of tripoli to soft soap is about 1:1,and the total water present is about 4-20 times the solid soap content.

It is yet a further object of the instant invention to provide animproved machine buffing process, and buffing composition therefor, foruse in obtaining superior results in the buffing of lacquered cabinetWork, wherein the bufling operation is accomplished by cooperativeaction between a suitable bufling cloth and a composition comprisingtripoli, soft soap, kerosene and water in approximately a 2:2:125 weightratio.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent to one skilled in the art fiom t1e following descriptionof preferred embodiments tie eo The present invention relates to animproved machine 7 buffing operation of the type described, and thebuffing composition therefor, wherein a suitable abrasive such astripoli is used in the composition in conjunction with about an equalamount of soft soap, a volatile oil such as kerosene in about one-halfthat amount, and water in amounts ranging from about 4 to 20 times thesoap solids content.

Most preferably, the bufling composition of the inven- Prepared bydissolving soap (1') in water (4), then adding kerosene (3), and finallyadding tripoli"(2), with agitation.

(b) 3 parts of a soap compound having the formula:

Proportions Ingredient Preferred, Optimum,

percent percent (5) Soft soap (40% solids) 30-45 36 (6) Volatile Oil(Steam distilled Pine Oil) up to 2 1 (7) Water 55-70 63' and (c), as adiluent, 1-5 parts of water. (As used herein, and terms parts, percentand means parts or percent by weight, unless otherwise designated.)

It has been found, by repeated operations, that machine operatedcloth-buffing of lacquered television cabinets, for example, may becarried out in a uniquely satisfactory manner so as to obtain optimumresults by the use of the foregoingproportions above designated.

The particular abrasive material found to be most satisfactory istripoli or rose tripoli. It will be appreciated, however, that certainother equivalent abrasives such as silica flour and diatomaceous earthmight well be substituted in whole or in part for the tripoli.

The volatile oil (3), kerosene, found to be most suitable for use incompound (a) may, of course, be replaced in whole or in part byanequivalent mineral oil. be appreciated that one of the mostadvantageous features of kerosene is its inexpensiveness. The kerosenealso has limited solvent functions, at least for cleansing purposes, andalso tends to form an oil-in-water emulsion in the instant compositionso as to assist in improving the uniformity and stability of thesuspension of ingredients in the composition. The pine oil of compound(b) may, likewise, be replaced in whole or in part by an equivalentvolatile oil.

It will As is well known, soaps are obtained by the interaction of fattyoils and fat with alkali metal donors to form salts. In the instantcase, the soaps found to be most preferable are the high viscositypotassium soaps made from vegetable oils. Soap-water systems are capableof exhibiting a variety of physical forms or phases. For example, truesoap solutions (called nigre phase) occur ordinarily when the proportionof soap to water is under about 30%. Another phase, is the middle soapor so called soft soap phase which normally occurs in soapconcentrations ranging from 40 to 60% solids in water. In commercialpractice, aqueous soap compositions are ordinarily supplied as soft soap(in the concentration just mentioned) and, accordingly, the proportionsof ingredients used herein have been referred to on the basis of thesoft soap proportions on certain occasions. It should be noted, however,that in the preparation of both compound (a) and compound (b), theamount of additional water that is incorporated in each is sufiicient toeffect a change from the soft soap phase to the nigre phase, and thewater of compound is substantially more than the amount necessary toaccomplish that tranls)itic1 1n with respect to either compound (a) or(b) or Although the exact phenomena involved in accomplishing theuniquely advantageous results of the instant invention are not fullyunderstood, it is believed that such results are effected by thecombination of several important functions including lubrication, heatdissipation and cleansing.

It has been found most preferable that the compounds (a), (b) and (c) ofSchedule I be employed in the ratio of 3 :3 1. The resulting proportionsare as set forth in the following Schedule II:

Schedule II It. Will thus be seen that the preferred ratio of soft soapto tripoli to kerosene to water is about 222:1:5. It has been found,however, that appreciable amounts of water may be added in addition tothe foregoing proportion of Water without producing harmful effects; andin some instances, it is advisable to add additional Water,

the amount of water employed being to some extent a.

matter of choice in order to obtain a bufiing compound of the particularconsistency desired. In general, it has been found that the amounts ofwater incorporated in the composition may be such that the final soapsolids concentration with respect to the water is about 10-20%,preferably.

As can be seen from Schedule II, the bufling composition thus described,constitutes a kerosene-in-soap solution emulsion, wherein the soft soapto tripoli ratio is about 1:1, the water is about enough to obtain a10-20% (solids) aqueous soap solution, and the kerosene is a minorproportion with respect to the water, of about 5-20% of the water (orabout 50% of the soft soap).

In carrying out the machine-operated cloth-buffing operation of theinstant invention, a cloth-buffing wheel powered for rotary motion maybe employed. Such a bufi'ing wheel would ordinarily involve a suitablesupporting structure having mounted on a circular face thereof, one or aplurality of layers of suitable resilient material, such as spongerubber. The buffing cloth is wrapped over the resilient material and issupported thereby during the boiling operation, when the buffing clothis urged against the wood workpiece with the buffing composition appliedto the surface thereof.

In general, buffing as well as cloth-buffing operations machine powered,for example, for rotary cloth-buffing motion are well understood in theart and need not here be described in further detail. The unique featureof the instant invention being the particular cooperation between theingredients of the buffing composition when interposed between thebufiing cloth and the surface to be bufied during a machine-operatedbuffing process.

It will, of course, be understood that various details of operation andcomposition may be varied through a wide range without departing fromthe principles of this invention, and it is, therefore, not the purposeto limit the patents granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by thescope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A composition suitable for use in cloth-buffing of lacqueredfurniture, that consists essentially of (a) 3-5 parts of a rubbingcompound of 16.5 weight percent aqueous alkali metal soap of fatty acidsof 60 weight percent solids cont'ent,'45.5 weight percent tripoli, 21.5weight percent kerosene and 16.5 weight percent Water; (b) 3 parts of asoap composition of 36 weight percent aqueous alkali metal soap of fattyacids of 40 weight percent solids content, 1 weight percent pine oil and63 weight percent water; and (c), as a diluent, 1-5 parts of water.

2. A composition suitable for use in cloth-buffing of lacqueredfurniture, that consists essentially of (a) 3-5 parts of a rubbingcompound having the formula:

- Weight percent 60% aqueous alkali metal soap of fatty acids 12-20Tripoli 35-55 Kerosene 15-25 Water 15-25 (b) 3 parts of a soapcomposition having the formula:

Weight percent 40% aqueous alkali metal soap of fatty acids 30-45 Pineoil up to 2 Water -70 and (c) 1-5 parts of water.

3. A composition suitable for use in cloth-bufimg of lacqueredfurniture, that consists essentially of:

Parts aqueous alkali metal soap of fatty acids 16.5 Tripoli 45.5Kerosene 21.5 40% aqueous alkali metal soap of fatty acids 36 Pine oil 1Water 112.5

4. A composition suitable for use in'cloth-buffing of lacqueredfurniture that consists essentially of 40%-60% aqueous alkali metal soapof fatty acids, tripoli and kerosene inthe weight ratio 2:2:1 and waterin an amount 4-20 times the solids soap content obtained by combina-E051 of the following ingredients in the proportions speci-

1. A COMPOSITION SUITABLE FOR USE IN CLOTH-BUFFING OF LACQUEREDFURNITURE, THAT CONSISTS ESSENTIALLY OF (A) 3-5 PARTS OF A RUBBINGCOMPOUND OF 16.5 WEIGHT PERCENT AQUEOUS ALKALI METAL SOAP OF FATTY ACIDSOF 60 WEIGHT PERCENT SOLIDS CONTENT, 45.5 WEIGHT PERCENT TRIPOLI, 21.5WEIGHT PERCENT KEROSENE AND 16.5 WEIGHT PERCENT WATER; (B) 3 PARTS OF ASOAP COMPOSITION OF 36 WEIGHT PERCENT AQUEOUS ALKALI METAL SOAP OF FATTYACIDS OF 40 WEIGHT PERCENT SOLIDS CONTENT, 1 WEIGHT PERCENT PINE OIL AND63 WEIGHT PERCENT WATER; AND (C), AS A DILUENT, 1-5 PARTS OF WATER.